On the afternoon of March 6, the Ho Chi Minh City National Assembly Delegation conducted supervision of the City People’s Committee and agencies and units on the implementation of policies and laws on renovating the system of organizing and managing, enhancing the quality and efficiency of the operation of public sector units in the period 2018 – 2023 in the city.
Tighten the use and exploitation of public assets
Speaking at the working session, Mr. Le Minh Duc – Deputy Head of the Legal Department of the City People’s Council – considered that the organization and management, and the improvement of the quality of operation of public sector units in the city have been implemented in the right direction and have achieved very high effectiveness.
However, there is still confusion in fully exploiting material facilities, because although the legal provisions are very strict, to exploit public assets, to enter into joint ventures, and to link up, it is necessary to do it systematically, closely follow the plan, and get the approval of the appraisal council…
Mr. Le Minh Duc made comments at the supervision meeting. Photo: Ngo Tung.
“Through many stages, many steps, some public sector units are very hesitant because the submission time is too long and it leads to losing opportunities,” said Mr. Duc. However, he also believed that it is not possible to blame the City People’s Committee because we have to do it right, because if we exploit state assets for joint ventures, partnerships that are not correct, it will cause losses, it will be considered a crime and will be handled legally.
Deputy Head of the Legal Department of the City People’s Council, Mr. Le Minh Duc, hopes that in the near future, there will be more specific forms, more detailed instructions for public sector units to implement the effective use of joint ventures and public assets.
He also said that recently, the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee has approved joint ventures and partnerships of some localities and departments. However, the implementation needs to ensure transparency and fairness to prevent losses of state assets.
Mr. Duc also expressed concern about the fact that for small assets that are managed by districts and towns, there is currently a problem of not being able to decentralize because the law does not allow it. “Therefore, we need to calculate and propose to help the People’s Committees of localities, the heads of management to be proactive, to avoid wasting state assets,” Mr. Duc suggested.
Regarding the joint venture and partnership project, Deputy Director of the Department of Justice Nguyen Thi Hong Hanh said that during the construction of Resolution 98, the city also mentioned this issue and recently included this in the draft decree on decentralization.
Ms. Hanh believes that the process of pursuing recommendations with the central government is almost over, and it is up to the city now. “Therefore, it is necessary to consider the quantity when reporting, with the difficult and recommendations of the city. This work needs to be more resolute because it is a very pressing issue for public sector units, from supervising the use of state assets, supervising the implementation of the Land Law…” Ms. Hanh said.
“If you do business with private enterprises, you must follow market mechanisms…”
Vice Chairman of the City People’s Committee Vo Van Hoan said that the current management ideology is joint ventures, partnerships between public sector units and other units, or with private enterprises, then we manage it as a public sector. According to Mr. Hoan, doing so does not create strength, self-reliance and is not suitable for a market economy. If doing business with private enterprises, we must follow market mechanisms, operate according to contracts and handle according to contracts.
Vice Chairman of the City People’s Committee Vo Van Hoan.
“Currently, people work according to contracts but we handle it according to public administration. Even one dong of the state participating also manages as public administration, must declare, must do enough tricks. And when handling violations in it, we take all the legal provisions on public administration to handle whereas they manage contracts. Therefore, they also hesitate to participate in the process we invite them,” Mr. Hoan said.
Vice Chairman of the City People’s Committee believes that for joint ventures and partnerships, it must first rely on the market, rely on contracts, and decide through the value and payback period of projects, works. That task is given to those who are investors, directly responsible for managing public sector units and we treat it as a contractual activity so we can solve it.
Deputy Head of the Ho Chi Minh City National Assembly Delegation Ha Phuoc Thang concluded the working session. Photo: Ngo Tung.
In the conclusion of the working session, Deputy Head of the Ho Chi Minh City National Assembly Delegation Ha Phuoc Thang assessed that in the process of administration, the city has quickly issued policies in Resolution 98 of the National Assembly to continue to support and enhance the operation of public sector units from August 1, 2023.
The delegation also noted the difficulties, problems, and recommendations from the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee, and proposed that the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee continue to implement the outlined directions and solutions, especially those determined to be the jurisdiction of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee and the Chairman of the HCMC People’s Committee; continue to promote the implementation of policies outlined in Resolution 98.
